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Is Bayern Munich the right move for Thiago?

Thiago is set for a move to European champions Bayern Munich

German and European champions Bayern Munich have agreed a fee of £21.6million for Spanish starlet Thiago Alcantara with his club Barcelona.

The 22-year-old is expected to sign a four-year contract with the Bavarian giants.

Limited

Thiago Alcantara is without doubt one of the best young up-and-coming midfielders in world football, but he found it hard breaking into the Barcelona midfield on a regular basis.

Well who wouldn’t considering that Barcelona’s midfield consists of the likes of Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, not to mention the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Sergio Busquets.

His chances of first team football were always going to be limited at the Nou Camp.

Linked

For months, the young Spanish under-21 captain had been linked with a move to Manchester United in the British press, yet according to relatively new United boss David Moyes he was never a transfer target of the club, despite appearing to have all the qualities that United need.

It now appears that Thiago will not be wearing a United shirt next season, whether the Red Devils wanted him or not, as he seems to be determined to be reunited with former-Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola in the Bavarian capital.

Same problem

Thiago found it hard to get into the Barcelona midfield; he could find it equally as hard to get into the Bayern. The youngster would have fitted into the Manchester United midfield, which is crying out for a playmaker.

At Bayern, Thiago will have to compete with even more players for a place in the Bayern first team, than he did at Barca. The likes of Javi Martinez, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Xherdan Shaqiri and Toni Kroos are already competing for a berth in that central midfield for Bayern.

In the attacking midfield berth, the likes of Thomas Muller and Germany’s new wunderkid Mario Gotze will be competing for that position. It is difficult to see where Thiago fits into the team at the Allianz Arena.

Development

Thiago’s career has stalled slightly at Barcelona, because of the aforementioned competition for places. However, having learnt his trade at La Masia and worked with the likes of Lionel Messi he was always going to be a talented player.

His full potential was never going to be reached. His flair for showboating meant that earlier in his career he was not taken as seriously as he probably should have been. Thiago looks to have matured as a person and player since then though.

His passing, vision, and trickery on the ball is outstanding for a player of his age. There are very few young players currently in the game with the technical ability of Thiago. He has a Brazilian swagger about him, thanks to being the son of former-Brazil World Cup winner Mazinho.

The youngster has experienced three different cultures, after being born in Italy, while his dad was playing for Fiorentina. Thiago seems to have taken the best of the Spanish game and mixed it with his Brazilian heritage and produced a player with the ability to take the world by storm.

However, to take the world by storm he must first start playing games, and that will be no mean feat at Bayern next season. The youngster also faces a major fight to get into the Spanish national side, having not won a senior cap since 2011.

Vital

It was vital that Thiago moved on for the sake of his career. He was wasting his talents sitting on the Barcelona bench. However, I feel the youngster has just swapped one high-profile bench for another at Bayern and Thiago could waste his huge potential warming the Bayern bench next season.